Your Innovative Ideas

Are we missing a solution? Tell us WHAT other solutions are needed to safeguard forests,WHY they are important and HOW they can be implemented and/or scaled up.Note that the posts are moderated for content.

We see so many plastic bags being discarded everyday. Like sprout pencils at the botton of each bag there should be some sort of water activated seed attached so when they are used in land filling or just thrown away, they grow plants.

The greatest problem in protecting forests by regulations is met at implementation level, as in many countries existing laws are in principle quite adequate to assure protection. There are often many authorities in charge of land management, and forest and nature protection. That's good for assuring cross-control but it can generate conflict of authority and disperse resources. Officials in charge of control are usually too few, under paid, with little resources and equipment, exposed to threat and bribery from gangs and strong economic interests. They can be efficient in monitoring, but already impaired to scale up to inspection, with almost no power when sanctioning is the case. Therefore they are forced to require police collaboration when those problems are met. And police is seldom available and trained for dealing with those issues. As a matter of fact prosecution of deforestation violations are rare and punishment even more so. The solution proposed is to institutionalize a specialized corps within the police (or a new one endowed with full police power) in charge of control and enforcement of forest and environmental regulations, responding to the needs of the authorities in charge of forest and environmental policy, with direct responsibility and relation with the judiciary system.

The general consensus on the negative action that a free-market economy has on natural forest cover (land uses alternative to natural forest are normally more rentable for the private actor) hides the vast array of incentives by which governments (by own initiative or paid by international aid) stimulate deforestation. Often those incentives alone cause greater pressure on forests than policies the same governments implement for forest protection, with a resulting negative balance. E. g.:

Incentives and tax discount or exemption to agriculture (economy sector most responsible for deforestation) with respect to other economy sectors.

Incentives and tax discount or exemption to rural communities (those most responsible for deforestation).

Policies against urbanization: that keep lot of people to survive on low-productivity land that would be better devoted to a lesser degree of exploitment.

Incentives and tax discount or exemption to the use of biofuels (fovoring demand of firewood and of cropland).

Laws that recognize land-rights only on "used" land (in many countris where deforestation is rampant land users are compelled to burn/cut the forest to show that they give any use to it in order to confirm themselves as farmers/entrepreneurs to the authorities in charge of ownership rights recognition). Laws that sanction confiscation for "not used" land.

Promote the use of bamboo as an alternative to wood, This provides employment through adoption of adequate value chains of bamboo uses. It is also a source of local investment of local artisans, women and youth.

There should be strict laws against deforestation; expansion of settlements should be controlled as to not tamper with natural habitats; have roadshows to enlighten people about the effects of deforestation and climate change; have people plant one more tree per year.